I can see how my original post came off as arguementative and I apologize for any upset it may have caused.
As you say, the paleo diet has been expanded over time to include other foods, which suggests it's attempting to expand as the science of what paleolithic people actually ate debunks some of the early claims.....good on them for that. There is a fair bit of evidence to suggest that paleolithic people even ate grains and legumes in certain amounts, when available. I would imagine most paleolithic people were simply opportunists happy to eat whatever was available with little regard to blood sugar issues, obesity or long term health. My issue is less with Cordain himself than the paleo die-hards nutters who insist any type of grain or processed food in a diet is inherently unhealthy and responsible for the obesity epidemic and the multitude of related health issues.
As for the low-carb aspect of the paleo diet, off the top of my head, it's predated by guys like Dr. Mauro Dipasquale, John Parillo, Dan Duchaine, Lyle Macdonald and a few others in the nutrition guru world who's names escape me at the moment. Certainly ketogenic diets have been prescribed for over a century by many doctors, but was seriously set back by the high carb, low fat phase of the 80's and 90's. In addition, many old time bodybuilders used low carb and even ketogenic diets before the low-fat craze. From the 40's through the early 70's ketogenic diets were quite popular with the venice beach boys.
For what it's worth, I personally maintain a lowish carb diet and will drop most carbs when dieting. For my bodytype, low carb diets work the quickest and I feel the best while on them. I went from a high of 260lbs to 200lbs on a low carb diet, so I understand your preference for it. Like yourself, I gained some of it back in the pursuit of strength sports, but now that I have no desire to chase strength gains at all cost, I will likely live out my days in a low carb life, lol.
Again, my issue is less with Cordain and his diet itself, it's with the paleo zealots who insist it's the "only way" to live a healthy life. Pubmed is full of old and recent research that counters the ideas that dairy, legumes, grains and even the devil sugars are inherently unhealthy.

As for the Crossfit zealots, I'm of a similar opinion as you, although likely a little more militant towards most crossfit quacks. As for systems that predate it, I would throw out John Davie's "Renegade Training", which I think Glassman likely took many of his ideas from. He certainly did a better marketing job than Davies.

Quote Originally Posted by Joshua View Post
If the term Paleo diet is marketing nonsense, then Dr. Cordain is sucking at it, as he is the one that coined the phrase. The term has been expanded to include dozens of different types of diets, some focusing on higher carbs like tubers, and some more classic with the "meat, leaves, berries" schtick that ends up being fairly low carb. Paleo might have been a commercial term a decade ago, but today pretty much reflects a varied style of eating that is only unified by the lack of grain, legumes, processed sugar, and artificial flavorings/sweeteners.

I will say the "Primal Diet" advocated by Mark Sisson is very much a marketing scheme, and is the "Johnny Come Lately" - but some people look to flash to find success, and I'm not gonna crap on his success. The guy lives his concepts and is really motivated, but for me he still comes off as a hack. He rebranded the concepts of Paleo/Hunter-Gatherer eating, added some supplements, allowed dairy and some other foods... and called it "Primal".


I'd like to see some of your examples, I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just have followed this way of eating off-and-on (finances withstanding) for over a decade and I don't have any clue what you are on about.



Most "old time trainers" that I am familiar with prescribed the "GOMAD" principles (Gallon Of Milk a Day) to gain weight, and the disgusting and unhealthy "Tuna Fast" to lose weight. Dan John's "Meat, Leaves, and Berries" diet was coined after Audette's Neanderthin, and Cordain's "Paleo Diet". As far as long-timers suggesting this diet, I can really only think of Banting's "Letter on Corpulence" and the works of Stephansson as being influential - both using an Ancestral, Hunter-Gatherer-based diet and reporting cured ailments such as diabetes and obesity. Despite training with several real "old time" strength trainers for the last half of my own life, I can't really remember anyone telling me that they used anything anywhere near the paleo diet... but they watched me lose 120lbs following it in 9 months time (they had a bit of envy that I was eating steak, eggs, and tomatoes every morning and having such drastic fat-loss results while still getting stronger).



I've got no love for Crossfit, except the pictures floating around on the net. I try to avoid any fitness zealotry and they seem to breed the most. However, prior to Glassman's concepts, the only people really following this combination of strength, gymnastics, calisthenics, and running were people doing it on their own. Crossfit isn't a system as much as it is a community.